Ron DeSantis Suspends All Local COVID-19 Orders in Florida Through Executive Action

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has said that he is taking executive action to suspend all local COVID-19 emergency orders. His executive action will, according to CBS12, “immediately suspend” the emergency orders and then invalidate them by July 1.

“We’ll […] sign an executive order […] invalidating all remaining local emergency COVID orders, effective on July 1st,” DeSantis announced Monday morning. “But then to bridge the gap between then and now, I’m going to suspend, under my executive power, the local emergency orders as it relates to COVID.”

DeSantis’ announcement came during a news conference at a St. Petersburg restaurant. He added that his executive order is fully justifiable in light of the both the science and the state’s COVID data.

“I think that’s the evidence-based thing to do,” DeSantis said before receiving a brief round of applause. “I think folks that are saying that they need to be policing people at this point—if you’re saying that, you really are saying you don’t believe in the vaccines, you don’t believe in the data, you don’t believe in the science.”